Olivia Plender

I have just finished making 4 new watercolour paintings, as part of my ongoing series Bringing Down the Flowers representing plants which were historically used by women to induce abortion.  They will be a part of my upcoming solo exhibition at Modern Art Oxford, in the UK, titled 'Little Fennel's Complaint'. The show is a feminist look at the history of medicine and includes a wide range of my recent and new work, ranging from painting, to installation, textiles and sound. We have also managed to borrow three amazing seventeenth century books from the Bodleian Library at Oxford University for the exhibition, which are the medical case notes of astrologer doctor Richard Napier. He practiced humoral medicine based on the ancient theory of the four humors.  Olivia Plender: 'Little Fennel's Complaint' Modern Art Oxford 23 May – 16 August 2026 Exhibition Opening: Friday 22 May 5-6pm public talk (tickets free, but booking required) 6.30-9pm opening party Images: Pomegranate Motherwort Ergot Juniper #modernartoxford @maureenpaley

If you find yourself in Gothenburg this evening, please join me for the talk I am doing as part of the biennial: 18.00-19.30 Gothenburg City Library Fogelstad - Art, Community and Citizenship A look back at the Women’s Citizens School at Fogelstad and art as a free zone for women, and a look ahead at the relationship between art, society and community today. The participants are artist Olivia Plender, translator and author Nik Ruth Persson, and Ann Ighe, editor of Ord&Bild. The programme is organized in collaboration by Gothenburg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Skövde Art Museum and Ord&Bild, whose first issue of 2025 was dedicated to the Women’s Citizens School at Fogelstad. @ordobild @goteborg_biennial @christinalehnert #fogelstad Image: Arrest!, pencil on paper, 2025 Currently on show as part of Gothenburg International Biennial 2025 at Skövde Art Museum

My artwork is featured in this new book: Hospital Aesthetics: Disability, Medicine, Activism by academic Amanda Cachia, published by Manchester University Press, 2025. Alongside works by many brilliant artists, it mentions my project Our Bodies are Not the Problem commissioned for the 'Life Support' exhibition at Glasgow Women's Library in 2021; as well as the exhibition 'Chronos: health, access and intimacy' that I curated at Tensta konsthall, Stockholm, together with Cecilia Widenheim in 2024. The artworks highlighted from the show include Cecilia Germain's beautiful series of cyanotypes and Jakob Jakobsen's Hospital for Self Medication. Hospital Aesthetics: Disability, Medicine, Activism argues that contemporary disabled artists are offering a new hospital aesthetics, taking health and care into their own hands and body-minds. Hospital aesthetics is defined as artwork that explores the ever-subjective experience of being sick and ill, set apart from and outside of a clinical and therapeutic setting, and in opposition to the medical model of disability.  To buy the book, see: /9781526187864/ Get 30% off when you order through the MUP website with code EVENT30 at checkout. Images:  Front cover of the book featuring artwork by Jesse Darling Cecilia Germain, Grandmother as a Young Woman/ The Okra Flower, 2023 @amanda_cachia @ceciliawidenheim @tenstakonsthall   #ceciliagermain @hospitalforselfmedication @womenslibrary

I am participating in the 13th edition of the Gothenburg Biennial, in Sweden, which opens this week. Titled 'a hand that is all our hands combined’ it is curated by Christina Lehnert. In times of war, polarization and authoritarian tendencies, the biennial aims to investigate how art can facilitate dialogue and reflection and make resistance possible. The artworks are rooted in an attitude of care that extends beyond personal concerns. Its title originates in a line from a poem by Solmaz Sharif. Gothenburg International Biennial, 'a hand that is all our hands combined', 20 September - 30 November 2025 Images: Arrest!, series of pencil on paper drawings, 2021-25 Hold Hold Fire, video stills, 2019 Neither Strivers Nor Skivers, They Will Not Define Us, series of printed posters, 2022 @goteborg_biennial @christinalehnert #eastlondonsfederationofthesuffragettes #feministhistory #suffragettehistory

I am participating in The Great Noise, the second edition of Triennialen in Västernorrland, running from 14 June to 21 September 2025 at nine locations across the region in the north of Sweden. The 2025 Triennial takes its starting point from the most fatal witch trials in Sweden’s history, which took place in 1675 at Häxberget (The Witch Mountain) in Ångermanland. Following a period of witchcraft investigations, more than 100 innocently convicted individuals, almost exclusively women, were executed and burned at the stake. 350 years later, this contemporary art festival brings together works by around 30 artists under the artistic direction of Karolina Aastrup and Helena Byström. The title “The Great Noise” (Det stora oväsendet) highlights a local and historical dimension of the witch trials, but the societal changes and power structures that enabled these horrific events can be found globally and throughout history.  I will be exhibiting my watercolour series Bringing Down the Flowers, inspired by floral paintings from the 19th century, a popular hobby amongst women. The genteel works depict plants historically used for medicinal purposes, including to induce abortion. Some plants such as St John’s wort, tansy and yarrow are commonly found in Sweden, others less so and can be poisonous if mishandled. The expression Bringing Down the Flowers was once a euphemism in the English-speaking world for inducing abortion and triggering menstruation. It likely served as a discreet code to mask the subject from outsiders. These paintings embody hidden, orally passed-down knowledge about women’s health, preserved across generations. https://triennalen.konstframjandet.se/om/the-great-noise #triennalenivasternorrland2025 Images all from the watercolour series Bringing Down the Flowers (2023): St John's Wort, Geranium, Spearmint, Rue, Male Fern, Penny Royal

Komtemåtta – A Pioneering Safe Space for Women opens to the public today at Liljevalchs, Stockholm, 13 June – 10 August 2025. I am exhibiting a series of drawings and prints of various kinds. The Fogelstad Women’s Citizenship School, which existed in Sweden from 1925-1954, serves as the inspiration behind the exhibition. The school gathered women from all parts of society to provide them with a political education. Curated by Maria Lind and Hanna Nordell the exhibition features works by contemporary artists including myself, Petra Bauer, Åsa Elzen, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Anders Sunna and Susanne Ewerlöf, as well as archival material, and historical artworks by Siri Derkert (1888-1973) who attended the school. Pencil on paper drawings (2019-25): Nelly Thüring (one of the first female members of the Swedish parliament), Honorine Hermelin (head teacher of Fogelstad Women’s Citizenship School), Rosa May Billinghurst (British suffragette) from my series titled Arrest!. @liljevalchs #rosamaybillinghurst #nellythuring #honorinehermelin #kvinnligamedborgarskolanvidfogelstad #suffragettehistory

I am participating in the group exhibition Dreamtime Ireland at Carlow County Museum, Ireland, curated by Sean Lynch, which opens today. Drawn from historical and contemporary artworks and artefacts, over thirty presentations are spread throughout Carlow’s gallery and museum spaces, each exploring art’s potential to provoke, investigate and critique the shape and purpose of Irish culture. With an emphasis on public art, social and conceptual practice, Dreamtime Ireland reveals an undercurrent of exchange and interaction between art and society, proposing artmaking as a way to live, make and share the complex world and environments we encounter today. My artwork resulted from conversations with a group of Irish primary school children in which I asked them to consider what a world turned upside down might look like. The world turned upside down was a popular theme in early modern times, used to represent a society in which all hierarchies and social norms are turned on their head.  The exhibition features artworks and contributions from: Seanie Barron, David Beattie, Mairéad Byrne, John Carson & Conor Kelly, Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty, Richard Collier, Brian Connolly & Maurice O’Connell, Avril Corroon, Alan Counihan, Paddy Critchley, Martin Folan, Paul Gregg, Raymond Griffin, Kerry Guinan, Léann Herlihy, Michael Higgins & Juana Robles, Michele Horrigan & the EVA International archive, Bernadette Kiely, Sarah Lincoln, Irish Architectural Archive, Jane McCormack & Kingscourt Brick Sculpture Symposium, Yvonne McGuinness, Nollaig Molloy, Tom Molloy, Gina Moxley, NAMACO (Han Hogan and Donal Fullam), Tom Ó Caollaí, Tina O’Connell, Olivia Plender, Robin Price, Rónán Ó Raghallaigh and George Hooker, Seán O’Riordan, John Reardon, Theo Sims, Lily Van Oost, Hermione Wiltshire. Dreamtime Ireland and Artworks 2025 span all of VISUAL's gallery spaces and continues in Carlow County Museum. Dates: 5 June - 31 August 2025 Images: details of The World Upside Down, printed poster, 2018. @seanlynch31 #worldturnedupsidedown #carlowcountymuseum

‘Komtemåtta – A Pioneering Safe Space for Women’ KIN Museum for Contemporary Art, Kiruna, Sweden 10 April – 27 July 2025 I am exhibiting a series of drawings in the exhibition Komtemåtta – A Pioneering Safe Space for Women, at KIN Museum for Contemporary Art, in Kiruna in the north of Sweden. The Fogelstad Women’s Citizenship School, which existed in Sweden from 1925-1954, serves as the inspiration behind the exhibition. The school was a self-organised educational experiment created by women, for women. Several of the founders had been active in the fight for women’s voting rights and two of them – Elisabeth Tamm and Kerstin Hesselgren-were among the first female members of the Swedish parliament in 1921. The school gathered women from all parts of society to provide them with a political education. Curated by Maria Lind and Hanna Nordell the exhibition features works by contemporary artists including myself, Petra Bauer, Åsa Elzen, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Anders Sunna and Susanne Ewerlöf, as well as archival material, and historical artworks by Siri Derkert (1888-1973) who attended the school. The exhibition is accompanied by a special issue of Ord & Bild, Sweden’s oldest culture magazine, with cover art by Olivia Plender. Pencil on paper drawings (2019-25): Fogelstad Women’s Citizenship School – Honorine Hermelin (head teacher), Ebba Holgersson (teacher), Elisabeth Tamm (member of parliament), Kerstin Hesselgren (member of parliament), Ada Nilsson (doctor), Elin Wägner (writer). ‘Komtemåtta’, a role playing game developed at the school. Ord & Bild, front cover with drawing by Olivia Plender, from the series Komtemåtta. Additional first female members of the Swedish parliament: Nelly Thüring, Agda Östlund, Bertha Wellin. ‘Constance Markievicz’, Irish republican and first woman elected to the British parliament in 1918, on behalf of Sinn Féin – although she did not take her seat, in line with the party’s abstentionist stance. ‘Arrest!’, ongoing series about the British suffragettes. @kin.museum.for.samtidskonst @ordobild #kvinnligamedborgarskolanvidfogelstad

I bought this humble pencil drawing in a flea market in Vienna in 1997, when I was an exchange student at the Akademie der bildenden Künste. Recently I noticed that there is a name written on the back and so I looked it up online (which, of course, was not possible in the pre-Internet 1990s). The artist, it turns out, is likely to be the landscape painter Emilie Mediz-Pelikan who exhibited at the first Vienna Secession. According to the Internet, she died in 1908 at the age of 47 and fell into obscurity. But since the year 2000 her work has been rediscovered by art historians and is now in the collection of some major museums, including The Met in New York. I notice that her name is hyphenated, to include both her original name and that of her husband, which is something that feminists at the time did to signal their independence. I am curious to know more about her work and life and so if anyone has any information, please DM me. #emiliemedizpelikan

On Sunday 9 March as part of the March Meeting at Sharjah Biennial 16, I was delighted to talk in public for the first time, with my fantastic sister: the social anthropologist Dr Celia Plender. The conversation was moderated by Sharjah Biennial 16 curator Zeynep Öz, whose idea it was to invite us to speak together about the overlaps in our work and research. As anyone who knows me will be aware, Celia has always been an influence on my practice as an artist, although it has never occurred to either of us to do a public talk together. Details of the talk below: Olivia Plender (artist); Celia Plender (social anthropologist) Moderator: Zeynep Öz (independent curator, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator) Olivia Plender and Celia Plender discuss the transition from feudalism to capitalism, as well as historical and present day political and economic alternatives. Artist and researcher Olivia Plender explores how gender, colonialism and authority shape societal structures. Her work challenges written history and amplifies silenced voices, including grassroots women's movements. Celia Plender, a social anthropologist, focuses on political-economic change in Britain, investigating community-based movements, such as food co-ops, mutual aid and alternative economies. Together, they will reflect on the ongoing impacts of historical power structures, particularly how capitalism continues to shape our relation to food, as well as contemporary economic and social dynamics. #sharjahbiennial16 @zeynepozz #celiaplender

Last week was the opening of the Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry. At the invitation of curator Zeynep Öz, I am exhibiting two series of artworks, both of which relate to moments of economic and social change in British history.  Set Sail for the Levant: A Board Game About Debt, made in 2007, is a rigged board game that parodies the birth of the capitalist system in the early modern period and the effects of the enclosure of the commons, debt and colonisation.  Machine Shall be the Slave of Man but We Will Not Slave for the Machine was made in 2007-8 at the time of the global financial crisis, and tells the story of the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift, a fringe British youth movement active between 1920 and 1951. Originally part of the Boy Scouts, the Kibbo Kift split off in order to establish a more democratic organisation. They were later radicalised in response to the economic crisis of 1931 and became a uniformed group, promoting a monetary reform system called Social Credit. My artworks can be found in Al Mureijah Square Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry 6 February - 15 June 2025 Curated by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala, and Zeynep Öz Images: 1) Sharjah Biennial 16, installation view, 2025, with fabric costumes, drawings, board game. 2 & 3) Set Sail for the Levant: A Board Game About Debt, 2007, detail 4) Machine Shall be the Slave of Man but We Will Not Slave for the Machine, 2007, fabric costumes 5-8) Bring Back Robin Hood, ink on paper drawings, 2007 9) Machine Shall be the Slave of Man but We Will Not Slave for the Machine, social credit diagram, ink on paper drawing, 2007 #sharjahbiennial16 #kibbokiftkindred #zeynepozz

I am participating in the upcoming Sharjah Biennial, titled: to carry.  6 February – 15 June 2025 SB16 Opening programme: 6–9 February 2025
 Sharjah City, Al Hamriyah, Al Dhaid, Kalba, Al Madam  and other locations across the Emirate of Sharjah A multi-vocal and open-ended proposition, the ever-expanding list of what to carry, and how to carry it, is an invitation to encounter the different formations and positions of the five curators as well as the constellation of resonances that they have gathered. Curated by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala, Zeynep Öz. If you find yourself in Sharjah for the opening, I hope to see you there. #sharjahbiennial16